Saturday, October 03, 2009

9.8%

Unemployment in the US hit 9.8% yesterday. It's the highest it's been in 26 years. 1983. The year I graduated from high school.

I've never in my life had to deal with this before. Up until now, the longest I'd ever been without a job was one month. I saw a poll a few weeks ago saying that something like 57% of those unemployed were "traumatized" by not having work. Sorry that I couldn't be one of those stalwart 43%; on the contrary, I'm very traumatized.

I've got a Masters degree. I've got 10 years of experience as a copy editor. I've sent out over 50 resumes to every conceivable job site in the NYC/NJ area.

While Unemployment checks have been tiding me over for the past 4 months, they've been paying my rent and utilities, and very little else. I have not been able to do anything since May, except maybe "splurge" on a $6 hamburger/fries plate every other week, and a haircut every 6 weeks. My apartment looks like shit. I look like shit. I did buy a cheap pair of shoes last week, but prior to that, the last time I bought any clothes was a couple of sweaters last Christmas.